CAROLINA SHORES — At least two island mayors from Brunswick County have concerns about future development of offshore wind energy off the North Carolina coast.

Sunset Beach Mayor Ron Watts and Bald Head Island Mayor Andy Sayre were among residents bringing questions and comments to a public hearing Feb. 12 conducted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) at Brunswick Community College’s South Brunswick Islands Center.

Two weeks prior to an upcoming public hearing, some Sunset Beach residents are expressing concern about a proposed terminal groin for the east end of Ocean Isle Beach, which they deem an environmental threat to the Sunset Beach island to the west.

With the hearing on the Ocean Isle terminal groin project scheduled March 3, Sunset Beach island resident Jan Harris said proper public notice about the meeting was not given.

HOLDEN BEACH — Holden Beach commissioners sent back a report for further review to the planning and zoning board about the wedding house controversy during their meeting Feb. 10.

Commissioners had asked at their January meeting for the planning and zoning board to look into the situation involving the 16-bedroom house at 1355 Ocean Blvd. W., where weddings are held virtually every week during the tourist season.

As parents, educators and community leaders, now is the time. Want to improve our schools? Want to help our children? In the next few weeks, the Congress is going to consider the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This is the federal government’s single largest funding pool for K-12 education. The bill represents the best opportunity to address not only poverty, but also to close the achievement gap and improve our schools for kids, educators and the community.

Fairy tales have always fascinated me. I loved reading them as a child. I “became” Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. Rapunzel was more difficult, since my hair was neither yards long nor shining with platinum beauty. There were wicked stepsisters who plagued my life...individuals who blocked my path with boulders of alienation, lack of acceptance heaped with ridicule. It was easy to see how fairy tales would be an impelling force, a call to what is beyond our immediate vision.

Last week in the General Assembly in Raleigh, we honored the 105th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and the 100th anniversary of the Order of the Arrow, the scouting honor society; had many discussions on the gas tax issue and saw the Senate pass a bill stabilizing the gas tax; and heard the presentation of the all-important revenue forecast for 2015-17.

More than 20 years in journalism, much of it spent as a public safety reporter, has given me a pretty strong constitution. I’ve come upon horrific crime scenes and gory accidents and found myself in truly repulsive environments more times than I care to remember (and will probably never forget). After a few years, I managed to develop a more clinical approach — plus gallows humor — to cope. Today, I’m confident in my odds of winning an old-fashioned juvenile game of “What’s grosser than gross?” based solely on personal experience.